Our Trip to Bandera Texas, Part I
March 30, 2008
We headed off to Texas last Friday for a one week family reunion/vacation at the Flying L Guest Ranch in Bandera, Texas. The trip started off very smoothly with me picking up Steve from work at 4:15 and our heading East on I-10 towards Texas. We made a longer than planned stop in Lordsburg, NM at the Love’s Gas Station. We got dinner at the Subway inside and there was quite a line and only one person making the sandwiches and one person working the register.
After we got our dinner, we were back on the road and made it all the way to El Paso before we were ready to stop for the night. We had a bit of trouble finding a room as the first three hotels we stopped at were filled, but we hit the jackpot when we tried the Hampton Inn. They only had one room available, a suite for $109. We gladly took it and enjoyed the added privacy of two separate rooms, and the extra space it afforded. It had a kitchenette and a refrigerator, as well as two TVs. We also liked that the sink was in a separate dressing area from the bath and toilet. Steve and Savannah enjoyed their free WiFi, and I took the kids down to the pool for a quick swim.
After enjoying the free hot breakfast, we loaded up and got on the road towards Bandera. The drive would have been rather boring had we filled up with gas in El Paso, but instead we decided to wait until we were a bit lower. Well, we ended up being a bit lower, and near empty, right in the middle of nowhere. It was a little dicey as the signs said that Ft. Stockton was 22 miles away and our on board computer said we had about 26 miles to go on our current amount of gas. Needless to say, we took the first Ft. Stockton exit and as we pulled into the gas station our computer said we had “0 miles” to go our our current tank. We all breathed a big sigh of relief.
We got lunch at “Kentucky Fried Bell” and headed East again on I-10. We enjoyed the increasingly beautiful scenery as we entered Texas Hill Country. We found the Flying L right away, and were very pleased with our roomy accommodations. We had the one bedroom side of the duplex with a King size bed, small bath, kitchenette, living area, two TV’s and a sofa bed. Mom and Dad had the two bedroom side with a larger bath, full kitchen, larger living area, sofa bed and a small bunk room. The kids took the bunk room.
Next we headed over to the RV park to meet my sister and see her camp site. I was pleasantly surprised at how luxurious and roomy her “pop-up” camper was, only to then be told by my Brother-in-law that this was actually a new camper that they had just traded in for on Thursday. The new camper is a hybrid, hard shell with two fold out sleeping areas, a sofa, kitchen table banquette, large kitchen and a bathroom with a complete door, toilette and shower. I never knew camping could be so luxurious. The new camper is really beautiful.
Coming soon – Part II featuring Bandera Shopping and Barbecued Shrimp.
Next Cruise
January 28, 2008
Well, it didn’t take too long. We thought we would skip a cruise this year because of two family reunions that we already have planned. Now, I am not sure that is going to happen. Cruising is our favorite way to spend a vacation and the thought of not doing one this year has not appealed to us.
It’s only been 7 months since our last cruise to Alaska, but the though of not cruising again until 2009 was more difficult than it should be. Anyways, we have decided to tighten the belt and see if we can’t go ahead and swing a cruise this Thanksgiving season, which is a common time for us to cruise.
Nothing is for sure yet as we want to make sure we don’t stretch ourselves too far, but we have been zeroing in on a couple of cruises that look really appealing to us.
The first is a 15 day cruise from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. The cruise stops in a couple of ports in Mexico and then goes through the Panama Canal before making stops in Costa Rica and Columbia. This cruise would be on one of our favorite ships, the Celebrity Mercury. We like this cruise as leaving out of San Diego tends to save us a few bucks as we only need airfare back from Fort Lauderdale. Going through the Panama Canal would make for an exciting cruise.
The second is a 15 day transatlantic crossing. We have really been itching to do a transatlantic crossing since days at sea tend to be our favorite part of a cruise. The cruise originates in Barcelona, Spain and ends up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It features stops in Spain, the Canary Islands and St. Maarten. If we did this cruise, we would probably try to spend a day or two in Barcelona before the cruise. This would allow Suzanne and the kids to take in some authentic Flamenco dancing in Spain since they all take dance classe. {Suzanne and Savannah actually take the Flamenco classes.} It us unlikely we would spend any time in San Juan.
The transatlantic cruise would require the kids to miss more school since it leaves on the Saturday after Thanksgiving while the Panama Canal cruise leaves the weekend before Thanksgiving. Either cruise, perhaps a bit more so for the transatlantic cruise, would be a unique learning and cultural experience for them. On either cruise, the kid would still have homework responsibilities.
I am do to learn what my yearly bonus will be in the next few weeks and the taxes will soon be finished and we are expecting a refund. With the drop in interest rates, we are also refinancing our home and should reap some monthly savings there too. Hopefully, the combination will be enough to allow us to take a cruise this year.
-
Subscribe via Email
Sign up to receive the latest Mr Papa's World site updates! -
Subscribe via RSS
